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AAEM has taken the initiative of working with Congress on bipartisan federal legislation introduced earlier this year, which, if passed into law, would mandate that emergency physicians be given due process at their place of employment and that they cannot be required to waive this right as a condition of employment.

The bill, H.R. 6372, has been formally proposed and referred to the House Energy and Commerce Committee for consideration:

A Bill

To require the secretary of health and human services issue regulations to ensure due process rights for physicians furnishing emergency medical services.

Be it enacted by the senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,Section 1. Regulations to ensure due process rights for physicians furnishing emergency medical services.

The secretary of health and human services shall, as soon as practicable after the date of the enactment of this act, but not later than one year after such date, through rulemaking, issue final regulations to provide that physicians who are employed by or under contract with a hospital for furnishing emergency medical services have a fair hearing and appellate review through appropriate medical staff mechanisms before any termination or restriction of the professional activity of such physicians or staff privileges of such physicians at such hospital and that such a hearing and review are not denied through a third-party contract.

The CDC is actively investigating acute flaccid myelitis, or AFM, a serious condition that causes weakness in the arms or legs.

From August 2014 through October 2018, CDC has received information on a total of 396 confirmed cases of AFM across the U.S. During this COCA call, subject matter experts from CDC will highlight the importance of reporting cases to learn more about this condition and the process for reporting.

They will also cover specimen collection and testing, and what CDC is doing for its AFM investigation. Learn more.

The American Academy for Emergency Medicine (AAEM) has over 8,000 members and was established in 1993 to represent board-certified emergency physicians whose goal is to promote fair and equitable practice environments necessary to allow emergency physicians to deliver the highest quality of patient care. Within our mission statement, we place a priority on the personal and professional welfare of the individual specialist in emergency medicine, and support residency programs and graduate medical education, which are essential to the continued enrichment of emergency medicine and assurance of high quality care for all patients.

We write with great concern for the upcoming possible changes to reduce the required protected time for emergency medicine core faculty. We appreciate the many months of dedicated work that it took to put these guidelines together, and respect the goals of promoting patient safety, resident well-being, and inter-professional team-based care, with an expansion to Section VI to give greater emphasis to patient safety and resident and faculty member well-being. We ask that you consider the following with respect to the proposed changes.

There is a high rate of burnout in medicine, and the specialty of EM has a high ranking in that unfortunate category. Burnout is associated with a deterioration of wellness and an increasing rate of physician suicide. It is incumbent upon us all to prevent these tragedies by utilizing our resources and education to recognize and mitigate the pressures that can create an environment conducive to burnout and its sequelae.

All physicians are naturally highly internally motivated, and will rise to the occasion to improve practice, education or other areas that demand time, energy and resources, and EM physicians are no exception. We all recognize the natural tendency to volunteer our time to fill a need, and to go above and beyond to get the job done. In the field of medicine, we are responsible to teach our juniors following the apprenticeship model.

This requires that we teach while taking care of patients. In the specialty of EM, we are also vulnerable to high patient volumes and the need to expedite patient care so that no emergent patient, such as those with a myocardial infarction or smoldering appendicitis, is neglected and suffers complications. We do not have the ability to cap our practice, or turn patients away, but need to give every patient our best-undivided attention as they come through the doors of the hospital. In the years from 2006 through 2014, ED visits have increased by nearly 20%, while the rate of admission from the ED decreased by 10%. This translates into a busier ED environment, while decreasing the work of the admitting teams who are admitting fewer patients. This is not, in fact, due to lower acuity, since the patients with the highest acuity are those whose admission rates decreased most significantly.1

With pressures such as these, the time and energy that can be devoted to teaching residents and medical students suffers. We supplement bedside teaching with the ACGME required hours of didactic, simulation and small group education. These educational endeavors take time to prepare for and implement. Developing a lecture or a simulation takes multiple hours to prepare and expedite. Within our scope of practice, many uncommon medical problems present, such as mass casualty management, emergency cesarean section or emergent thoracotomy. Although these incidents and procedures are rare, it is essential that our skills be perfect at the moment at which we need them in order to meet the public’s rightful expectation of the highest level of emergency care.

This necessitates training outside of the clinical realm, using simulation and other techniques in addition to didactic methods. The average simulation exercise requires 4 hours of preparation for every hour of teaching. Without protected time to invest in teaching methods and preparation, teaching in emergency medicine will suffer. Emergency medicine has been among the most innovative in medical education, being pioneers in Free Online Access to Medical Education (FOAM), and the flipped classroom, for example. Our educational efforts benefit EM residents, but are also delivered directly to, and indirectly improve the practice of all residents in the house of medicine as well as medical students. We are routinely chosen by the ACGME and the RRC to pilot test innovations such as the Milestones Project.

These innovations have put EM on the map as education mavericks. Without protected time, in order to protect well being and balance, EM physicians will either decrease the amount of personal time given to develop and deliver innovative education, and/or they will continue giving an extraordinary amount of time above and beyond clinical requirements and suffer from burnout and its sequelae. Emergency medicine is unique in its need for protected time for education, due to the nature of clinical work in the ED, the need to teach rarely seen procedures and experiences, and the higher risk of burnout.

We urge you to consider the unique nature of emergency medicine, its importance to the rest of the house of medicine and the need for protected time in order for EM core faculty and administration to continue the important work of educating future emergency physicians in the care of an ever-increasing population of patients.

Opportunities for AAEM Members

Photo Competition

Photographs of patients, pathology specimens, Gram stains, EKGs, and radiographic studies or other visual data may be submitted. Your submission should depict clear examples of findings that are relevant to the practice of emergency medicine or findings of unusual interest that have educational value. If your submission is accepted, you must mount it for viewing.

No more than three different photos may be submitted for any one case. Deadline to submit: November 1, 2018 at 11:59pm CT.

17th Annual Open Mic Competition

Open Mic is a proud tradition within AAEM, where attendees have the unique opportunity they have always wanted to speak at a national meeting. This open-floor format allows 16 "new voices" to be heard and evaluated by education committee members and conference attendees.

Registered Open Mic participants will have an opportunity to present a 25-minute lecture (20 minutes for presentation, 5 minutes for questions) on any topic of their choosing. The top two speakers will be invited to give a formal presentation at the 2020 Scientific Assembly in Phoenix, AZ.

Opportunities to Share with Colleagues

Young Physicians Section Poster Competition

This competition is designed to recognize outstanding research achievements by young physicians in emergency medicine.

Members of AAEM YPS and AAEM members who meet the YPS membership criteria (up to seven years post-residency) are eligible to submit their research for a poster competition. All posters will be displayed at the Scientific Assembly in Las Vegas. The top three posters will be awarded an honorarium (1st Place $1,000, 2nd Place $500, 3rd Place $250), a plaque and will be highlighted on AAEM’s social media pages.

This competition is designed to recognize outstanding research achievements by residents and students in emergency medicine.

The top 8 abstracts will be selected for oral presentation at AAEM19. All other abstract submissions are invited to display their research as a poster. The presenter of the oral abstract judged to represent the most outstanding research achievement will receive a $3,000 honorarium, while second and third place will receive $1,500 and $500 honoraria, respectively.

AAEM/RSA & Western Journal of Emergency Medicine Population Health Research Competition

This is designed to showcase medical student and resident research specifically in areas that affect the health of populations of patients in and around the ED.

The top six abstracts submitted by students and residents will be selected for oral presentation at AAEM19. The top three winners will be highlighted on AAEM's social media pages and honored with plaques.

2019 AAEM Award Nominations

Know someone with an outstanding record of service to AAEM? Recognize them! Nine awards are available. Award presentations will be made at the 25th Annual AAEM Scientific Assembly in Las Vegas, March 9-13, 2019.

November 15, 2018, 4:30pm-9:00pm | New York, NY
Millennium Hilton New York One UN Plaza

Advances in Cancer Immunotherapy is jointly provided by Postgraduate Institute for Medicine and the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC), in collaboration with the American Academy of Emergency Medicine and the Association of Community Cancer Centers.

Each session includes information that you need for your practice of emergency medicine. SITC has worked closely with AAEM leadership to ensure that each topic addresses the needs of the emergency physician.

Advances in Cancer Immunotherapy is jointly provided by Postgraduate Institute for Medicine and the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC), in collaboration with the American Academy of Emergency Medicine and the Association of Community Cancer Centers.

Program Organizers

Andrew Coveler, MD – Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

Nora Disis, MD, FACP – University of Washington

Doreen M. Higgins, RN BSN OCN – University of Washington

Learn about Immunotherapy from the EPs Perspective

Each session includes information that you need for your practice of emergency medicine. SITC has worked closely with AAEM leadership to ensure that each topic addresses the needs of the emergency physician.

Advances in Cancer Immunotherapy is jointly provided by Postgraduate Institute for Medicine and the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC), in collaboration with the American Academy of Emergency Medicine and the Association of Community Cancer Centers.

Each session includes information that you need for your practice of emergency medicine. SITC has worked closely with AAEM leadership to ensure that each topic addresses the needs of the emergency physician.

Advances in Cancer Immunotherapy is jointly provided by Postgraduate Institute for Medicine and the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC), in collaboration with the American Academy of Emergency Medicine and the Association of Community Cancer Centers.

Program Organizers

Shadia I. Jalal, MD – Indiana University Health

Anya Kjeldsen, RN BSN OCN – Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center

Theodore F. Logan, MD – Indiana University Simon Cancer Center

Learn about Immunotherapy from the EPs Perspective

Each session includes information that you need for your practice of emergency medicine. SITC has worked closely with AAEM leadership to ensure that each topic addresses the needs of the emergency physician.

AAEM recognizes and acknowledges the statement released by SCCM and ACEP expressing concern over the release of the Surviving Sepsis Campaign (SSC) Hour-1 Bundle patient care guidelines. AAEM is in agreement that prompt, early recognition with early initiation of treatment of sepsis is a crucial aspect of care; however, AAEM is concerned that the guideline has not been reviewed by stakeholder organizations including emergency medicine, infectious disease, and others. AAEM hopes this step can be done as soon as possible, but at this time we cannot support and in fact oppose this Bundle until it is reviewed using a multidisciplinary approach involving other organizations. At this time we recommend that hospitals in the United States do not implement the Hour-1 Bundle.

National Physician Suicide Awareness Day
Shine a Light. Speak its name.
September 17, 2018

In order to address the issue of physician suicide, the Council of Emergency Medicine Residency Directors (CORD), in collaboration with AAEM, ACEP, ACOEP, EMRA, RSA, RSO and SAEM have come together to annually dedicate the 3rd Monday in September as National Physician Suicide Awareness (NPSA) Day.

Vision Zero
Estimates are that up to 400 physicians per year take their own lives with the relative risk for suicide being 2.27 among women and 1.41 among men higher than the general population. Each physician suicide is a devastating loss affecting everyone - family, friends, colleagues and up to 1 million patients per year. It is both a very personal loss and a public health crisis. Vision Zero calls on individuals, residency programs, health care organizations and national groups to make a commitment to break down stigma, increase, open the conversation, decrease the fear of consequences, reach out to colleagues, recognize warning signs and learn to approach our colleagues who may be at risk. Let us challenge each other as individual, community, institutional and organizational to make changes to reach zero physician suicides.

Suicide can be prevented. Be the one to be there.
Shed light on this issue and change the culture of medicine to save lives.NPSA lapel pins will available for purchase in late August. Proceeds of sales will be donated to foundations who support this initiative.

As emergency physicians, residents, nurses, physician assistants, and medical students, we are servant leaders in our communities. We care and advocate for our patients while working clinically. We also respond to the call to give back to the communities we serve. The EM Day of Service was created with this essential concept in mind. The EM Day of Service is a specialty-driven event where emergency care providers identify community needs and volunteer to address those needs.

Join like-minded EM colleagues from around the country to participate in the EM Day of Service!

Who should join the movement?

While driven by EM residents and medical students, all emergency healthcare providers are invited to participate! Emergency physicians, PA's nurses, paramedics and others involved in the emergency care of patients are encouraged to volunteer in communities across the country.

What should we do and where?

Volunteer in your own community. Decide where the needs are greatest and go into action! Here are some ideas to get you started:

Host a food drive

Help with a construction project (build, paint, remodel) for a community building or a family in need

Provide health screen checks at local health fairs

Pick up trash in a neighborhood or clean a highway

Prepare and serve meals at your local shelter or help with projects, anything from helping with construction to discussing healthcare issues with inhabitants

Prepare food for a food delivery service that aids the disabled, severely ill or elderly

Visit nursing home residents. Read, play music, participate in their events, lead fun activities

Mow or rake lawns for the elderly or disabled

Clean up a park or community gathering spot

When is EM Day of Service?

• Pick a day - any day or several days - in September every year! Plan your service time anytime between September 1 and September 30

• By choosing several days during the month, this will help you manage clinical hours and volunteer hours. Perhaps some work while others volunteer and vice-versa. It's up to you to determine the most efficient scheduling of your volunteer project

How to participate?

Once we receive your registration, you will receive a promotional packet containing the EM Day of Service logos, fill-in-the-blank fliers, and press release you can customize to send to media outlets, community organizations and your institution.

As soon as you are registered, be sure to use social media to get the word out! Use #emdayofservice to start the buzz!

Today, U.S. Congressman Chris Collins (R-New York) introduced federal legislation to protect due process rights for emergency physicians. This was the result of countless meetings with Members of Congress and staff on Capitol Hill, made possible by the tireless work of many leaders in the Academy and by many of you, who took the time to participate in and offer support to our advocacy efforts.

AAEM has worked closely with Congressman Collins’ office over the last several months, and is especially appreciative of the great leadership they have demonstrated on this issue. AAEM would also like to acknowledge Representatives Raul Ruiz (D-CA) and Pete Sessions (R-TX) who are also backing this effort. Now is the time to bring even more focus and energy to this effort, and we need your help to engage your Members of Congress and ask them to join this fight.

Here is a link to AAEM’s press release, and a link to the press release from Congressman Collins. In the coming days, we will follow up with materials including a sample letter that can be addressed to Members of Congress including the official bill number and text once it has been publicly posted via the Library of Congress website.

For over 25 years, AAEM has supported fair and equitable practice environments necessary to allow the specialist in emergency medicine to deliver the highest quality of patient care. We believe such an environment includes provisions for due process and this legislation is an important step in that direction.

Thank you again for your membership and critical support, and we will keep you updated on further developments as things progress in Congress.

The American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) has approved subspecialty certification in Neurocritical Care (NCC). NCC is co-sponsored by the American Board of Anesthesiology (ABA), the American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM), the American Board of Neurological Surgery, and the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN). Physicians certified by these four boards who meet the eligibility criteria for NCC will have the opportunity to become certified in NCC.

The medical subspecialty of Neurocritical Care is devoted to the comprehensive multisystem care of the critically ill patient with neurological diseases/conditions. The ultimate goal of NCC is to provide optimal care to a unique patient population that simultaneously requires expert management of acute nervous system illness and trauma while integrating all other aspects of critical care medicine.

There will be two pathways to certification in NCC: a training pathway and a time-limited practice pathway. The practice pathway will start at the time the first exam is offered. Eligible pathway criteria will be posted on the ABEM website by the end of 2018. ABPN will develop and administer the examination; physicians will submit applications to their primary certifying board. The first examination is expected to take place in either 2020 or 2021.

New research conducted for PFC by Avalere, “The High Cost of Healthcare: Patients Experience Greater Cost-Shifting and Reduced Coverage in Exchange Markets 2014-2018,” shows that patients are experiencing higher premiums and sharp increases in patient out-of-pocket costs for health plans on exchange markets, and increasingly being offered narrow or restrictive health networks that cover between 34% and 66% fewer providers. Patients are paying more for less coverage, while doctors are being paid about the same, and insurance companies are showing record profits. And, these insurance plans with small, specialist deficient networks and high out-of-pocket costs can put patients at greater risk for receiving surprise bills, especially in an emergency when patients rely on insurance most.

The research highlights what patients across the country are experiencing with their healthcare plans – patients are paying more and getting less coverage. Regulations around network adequacy have not kept pace, but doctors and patients can end surprise bills while ensuring long-term access to quality healthcare and ending the surprise insurance gap.

Advances in Cancer Immunotherapy is jointly provided by Postgraduate Institute for Medicine and the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC), in collaboration with the American Academy of Emergency Medicine and the Association of Community Cancer Centers.

Each session includes information that you need for your practice of emergency medicine. SITC has worked closesly with AAEM leadership to ensure that each topic addresses the needs of the emergency physician.

Advances in Cancer Immunotherapy is jointly provided by Postgraduate Institute for Medicine and the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC), in collaboration with the American Academy of Emergency Medicine and the Association of Community Cancer Centers.

Zachary S. Morris, MD – University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health

Anne Wolvin, RN – University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center

Learn about Immunotherapy from the EPs Perspective

Each session includes information that you need for your practice of emergency medicine. SITC has worked closesly with AAEM leadership to ensure that each topic addresses the needs of the emergency physician.

The American Academy of Emergency Medicine, AAEM, along with many other medical associations signed on to a letter sent to the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator, Seema Verma regarding price transparency. Read the letter.

The ED Management Solutions Course is a live two-day event that brings together current and future medical directors. Not a medical director, but interested in operations management? This course is for you too! Topics covered are both timely and cutting edge. The first day will focus on the fundamentals of operations and then you will dive deeper into emergency department management and leadership on day two.

Accreditation Statement
This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of the American Academy of Emergency Medicine (AAEM) and the Mediterranean Academy of Emergency Medicine (MAEM). The American Academy of Emergency Medicine is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

Credit Designation Statement
The American Academy of Emergency Medicine designates this live activity for a maximum of 24.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

The American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) is currently working on an initiative for the future state of physician certification. Continuing Board Certification: Vision for the Future is a collaborative effort to assess the current state of continuing board certification, and to envision a framework that is relevant and meaningful to physicians, patients, hospitals and health systems.

This ‘Vision Initiative’ is led by a Commission comprised of a diverse group of physicians, professional medical organizations, national specialty and state medical societies, hospitals and health systems, educators, patients, and the general public. Today, the Commission is seeking feedback from as broad an audience as possible regarding the current and future state of continuing board certification and would like your input.

ABMS is encouraging all stakeholders in healthcare today to participate in this process, as it provides them an opportunity for their voice to be heard. The survey will remain open until May 11th and can be accessed here:

Over the past year the IFEM Curriculum and Education Committee has embarked on a project assessing leadership training curricula within EM training programs, national EM societies and international EM societies.

As part of our project, we kindly ask you to complete this 5 minute survey to further inform the committee. Data will be presented at the ICEM Conference in Mexico City this June. Please choose one of the links below. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at any time. We ask that you complete the survey by 15 May.

Thank you to speakers, planning committee members, leadership, and attendees for making AAEM18 another great Scientific Assembly. Recorded sessions will be available on AAEM Online this summer. Self-report links for CME will be emailed out in 14 days. Save the date for our 25th Annual Scientific Assembly in Las Vegas - March 2019.

We are writing to invite you to join us in finishing the StatPearls project. To date, more than five thousand health professionals are completing a peer-reviewed PubMed (National Library of Medicine) indexed database of 17,000 summary articles and 150,000 multiple choice questions with four teaching points, pictures, or a video classified to each specialty area of medicine, surgery, dentistry, pharmacy, nursing, allied health, and basic science. Questions and articles are selected by editors-in-chief for use by each specialty. The completed learning management system allows:

Users to customize, assign, score, and track web-based or printable assessments with the option to modify existing questions or develop private or shared question banks.

Users have free access to the online database, and unlimited CME/CE will only be $24.95 a year.

Authors and editors have free access, free CME/CE for updating content annually, and a free eBook.

Please consider a brief time commitment to this academic project. When you go to www.statpearls.com, you will see how easy it is to write, edit, and peer review content. Together we can provide free online access and affordable continuing medical education.

The American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM) and the American Osteopathic Board of Emergency Medicine (AOBEM) will now provide letters of support that may be submitted to hospital administrators to forego the mandatory completion of short courses or additional certifications (“merit badges”) often needed for hospital privileges. See press release for more information.